Turnout varies as polls open in Bridgeport area

Staff and wire reports

Updated 11:36 am, Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Voter turnout varied across the region early Tuesday morning -- from higher than expected to normal -- as Election Day got under way.

While some polling places saw heavier traffic than others, few reported low turnouts, at least during the early morning hours.

The presidential race and one of the most closely watched and costly U.S. Senate battles in the country are atop Connecticut ballots as voters finally get their say after being bombarded with months of political ads.

Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill expects 75 to 80 percent of Connecticut's nearly 2.1 million registered voters to head to the polls Tuesday, only a day after power was restored to all remaining polling places in the state left largely in the dark after Superstorm Sandy.

President Barack Obama is expected to take the state's seven electoral votes in his re-election bid against Republican Mitt Romney.

In the 4th District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Himes is facing a challenge from Republican Steve Obsitnik Democratic U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro is running for re-election in the 3rd District against Republican Wayne Winsley.

Along with state Senate and Representative races locally, Bridgeport voters are being asked to approve or deny a charter revision referendum that would convert the elected school board to one appointed by the city's mayor.

Workers at several of Fairfield's polling stations Tuesday morning report strong turnout in the first several hours of balloting in the national and state election.

Annette Ham, the moderator at Sherman School, said voters were standing in long lines at 6 a.m. "It's been very busy. It's been super busy," she said. "Very enthusiastic voters at 6 a.m." "From 6 to 7 [a.m.], I did not sit. We got off to a bustling start," she added.

A few miles away, turnout also was high at the Ludlowe High polling station, with polling moderator Gary Potmesil reporting that 663 people had voted at Ludlowe as of 8:32 a.m. "I've never seen lines like this before -- absolutely phenomenal and it just doesn't stop," he said. "At this rate, everybody's going to vote."

At Sherman School, Bill Domeika, a District 9 Representative Town Meeting member, who was outside Ludlowe supporting Republican state Rep. Brenda Kupchick, said, "The line was out the door this morning for an hour."

Kupchicks' opponent, Sue Brand, who was outside Ludlowe with her daughter Elizabeth, 20, said she heard turnout also was heavy outside the Fairfield Senior Center, where residents in District 1 vote, and at Holland Hill School, where residents in District 8 vote.

"All good turnouts -- really good," Brand said. "I don't remember seeing such a turnout in a long time." Elizabeth added, "Holland Hill had a line of cars just waiting to pull in."

On Twitter, Jeanine DeFalco, who voted at Hillcrest Middle School in Trumbull, said that it was "easy peasy," casting her vote there, and said Girl Scouts were outside selling cookies. Also on Twitter, Chris Russell, who cast his ballot at Middlebrook Elementary School in Trumull said he waited about 10 minutes there at 7:30 a.m. But the lines were out the door there earlier, said Eric Smith, possibly because redistricting increased the pool of voters for that polling place.

At Shelton Intermediate School, where voters are divided between the 3rd and 4th congressional districts, voting was light in the former and heavy -- 900 votes cast -- in the latter, said Mike Weber, a 4th congressional district moderator.

"There was a long line when we opened at 6 a.m.," he said. "I haven't seen this many since some years ago."

Merrill, the Secretary of the State, released final voter registration totals for the state on Monday showing about 768,000 registered Democrats and about 430,000 registered Republicans. But unaffiliated voters kept the title of largest voting bloc, with about 872,000.

Voter registration rolls have swelled by more than 200,000 people since January, with just under half of them not affiliating with the two major parties. Young people, ages 18 to 29, comprised the largest group of new voters with nearly 90,100 registrations.

Among the new registered voters, about 70,900 are Democrats and 33,000 are Republicans.

Merrill said all but two of the state's 773 voting precincts will be open Tuesday. The two polling places, in New London and Bridgeport, were relocated because of Superstorm Sandy. The polling place at Bridgeport's Longfellow School was moved to the nearby Aquaculture School at 60 St. Stephens Road

Merrill asks anyone who encounters a problem at the polls to call the Election Day Hotline, 1-866-SEEC-INFO (1-866-733-2463) or send an email to elections@ct.gov .